Task Force Reports

NASFAA regularly convenestask forcescomprised of geographically diverse groups of NASFAA member volunteers from all types of postsecondary institutions and sectors to help review legislative and policy proposals and voice NASFAA's position on pending legislation.

Our task forces have addressed a wide range of issues within NASFAA's major policy areas, including (but not limited to):

Minimizing student indebtedness

Supporting need-based aid programs

Simplifying and improving consumer information, and

Providing recommendations for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act

At its inception, each task force outlines its guiding principles, members, and actionable goals in a charter specific to its unique task. At its conclusion, the task force summarizes its final recommendations in a report, subject to approval by NASFAA's Board of Directors, which is then disseminated widely to NASFAA members, lawmakers, administration officials, the press, and other public policy experts.

August 2017 – Graduate and Professional (G/P) students make up a relatively small proportion of the total student population yet they hold a disproportionate share of outstanding student loan debt. Much of the focus of the federal student aid programs, as reflected in policy, FSA resources, media attention and public opinion, skews primarily toward undergraduate students. With a reauthorization of the Higher Education Act looming, NASFAA convened the Graduate and Professional Loan Limits task force to make recommendations that would ensure that G/P students’ needs are adequately considered in upcoming legislation. Download Report (PDF)

January 2017 - Convened in July 2016, the Assessing Tuition- and Debt-Free Higher Education Task Force was charged with evaluating the implications and tradeoffs of tuition-free and debt-free college for institutions of higher education and the broader higher education landscape. While the political landscape has shifted in the time between its deliberations and the final report, and a national program like President Obama’s America’s College Promise is highly unlikely under the new administration, the findings in the task force’s newly released report can help inform state and local program development for the short term and may well form a framework for a national program at some point in the more distant future. Download Report (PDF)